


Rose of Obsidian

by vagrantBreath



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Body Horror, Cannibalism, Dysphoria, Galra Keith (Voltron), Intersex Character, M/M, Transformation, focused on Keith
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-16
Updated: 2017-05-06
Packaged: 2018-10-19 18:21:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 20,931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10645452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vagrantBreath/pseuds/vagrantBreath
Summary: It started with a craving for meat. And then he grew a set of claws. Then a thin layer of dark, dense, almost black fur.Keith wanted to stop it before it turned into purple skin, fangs, and yellow eyes.If he could.





	1. Chapter 1

The water... felt nice on his skin. Keith gasped as it ran down from the shower head, cooling his heated skin. He tilted his head into the flow, enjoying how it rinsed the sweat away. Finally, he reached for the soap, scrubbing himself down.

Waking up in a puddle of sweat seemed to be a normal thing now. It was annoying. His clothing stuck to his skin, and he felt disgusting until he stepped into his shower and cleaned up. It was just... terrible. Keith leaned down, scrubbing the soap over his legs before lifting one, rubbing it over his foot.

Ever since finding out he held Galra blood in his veins, he spent far more time looking himself over in the shower. Yeah, he had instantly denied being purple to Hunk, but he remembered when he had those purple streaks on his hand. And if that happened again... Keith grit his teeth, putting his foot down so he could wash his other leg. He didn’t know what he’d do if that happened again.

He’d make sure it didn’t happen again. And... well, he had all his life to become purple and furry. If he hadn’t become more Galra-looking yet, he wouldn’t now. Keith put the soap back, ducking under the water again. He had _years_ to look Galra. It wouldn’t start happening now.

Finally, he shut the water off, grabbing his towel. As he dried himself off, he held onto that thought. If it hadn’t happened yet, it wouldn’t happen now. He was going to look human his entire life. He’d just... not be completely human.

Keith paused in the middle of drying his hair, blinking. What did that mean, anyway? He’d be able to work Galra tech and use his Blade of Marmora blade, so anything Galra-related was unlocked to him. But that... that’d be all. He was kind of scrawny. Which made him feel good, honestly. It felt _human_. It didn’t feel other, Galra. So he was tiny in comparison to a Galra. That was nice. And then he wasn’t furry, with claws and paws- well, the claws would come in handy considering he’d always have a weapon. But what did being Galra _mean?_ He didn’t have a family to teach him that.

Well... wasn’t that one of the things he wanted to go do? Find his family? Keith finished drying his hair, and started getting dressed. He didn’t even know really where to start. Other than the Blade of Marmora, he really didn’t know any friendly Galra. He could assume his mother was part of the Blade of Marmora with the sword he had, but other than that... where was she? Was she even still alive? All signs kind of pointed to no.

He sighed. Well. Not like he wasn’t used to being an orphan. Still. The Blade of Marmora might be able to get him in touch with the family he still had. Which would be... well, interesting. He had no idea if they would actually be friendly towards him.

Well. He had to hope they would be.

Keith pulled his sleeves straight and headed towards the kitchen, ready for breakfast. When he got there, he saw Lance shoveling food in his mouth like he had never seen it before (was... Lance getting even _taller?_ Was he going through yet another growth spurt? That wouldn’t be fair), Hunk fretting that Lance would choke on his goo, and Pidge ignoring both of them.

Shiro’s absence throbbed.

Keith ignored it, pumping himself a plate of good and settling himself down as well. He was pretty hungry himself. With any luck, that meant he was going through a growth spurt himself and he’d be taller than Lance. Hah. Though, if he was, Lance would never shut up about it. On the other hand, Lance would never shut up about being a lot taller than Keith anyway. So it was lose-lose.

Oh well.

He didn’t bother saying anything to anyone. Food came first. And... well, Keith just didn’t have anything to say. Why bother wasting words?

Next to him, Pidge stood, her plate empty. She clasped his shoulder absently as she left, and he nodded to her. Lance raised his spoon at her as she left, waving.

Shiro’s absence ached.

Keith ignored it.

  


* * *

  


Training was a no go today. He just couldn’t focus enough to take down any of them. Keith shook his head, blinking. What was going on? He just couldn’t think. He rubbed his eyes as he started back to his room, groaning. What the hell.

Maybe he just needed something to eat. He _was_ hungry. And he _was_ a growing boy. He needed food. Once he ate, maybe he’d be ready to train. He should probably ask Hunk for something more substantial than goo, though. While it fed him, he wanted something... that _filled_ him.

He wanted... _meat._ God, he missed meat.

With that thought, he went to find Hunk. Maybe he’d know if they had any meat.

When he did find Hunk, though...

”Huh? No, we don’t have any,” he told Keith, shaking his head. “You hungry? I can always whip something up for you.” Keith could see his fingers twitching - was he nervous about something? Did something happen?

”Yeah, sure.” If Hunk was nervous, best to just let him at the kitchen and bake it up. It’d let him bleed some of that off and feed the rest of them.

Instead of leaving for the kitchen, Hunk stared at him. “You okay? I mean, you look kind of really pale. Like sick pale. Getting enough sleep?”

Keith waved it aside. “I’m fine.” Yeah, he was waking up in a puddle of sweat every day, but that was nothing. He was fine. He’d just get Allura to make sure his room was cool when he slept. Maybe sleep with less on. Or with less blankets. There were a lot of things he could do to feel less disgusting when waking up.

Hunk frowned, leaning in. “Hmmmm.”

Keith leaned back. “Hey. Personal space.”

”Sorry.” Hunk settled back. “It’s just... you look bad. Your eyes are kind of glassy. Are you sick? Do you have the space flu?” His eyes went wide. “Do you have space Galra flu?”

Keith rubbed his head. “I don’t have space Galra flu.”

”You still look bad.” Hunk nodded to himself, crossing his arms. “Then I will make you some soup and then you’re going back to bed. No arguing!”

Keith closed his mouth. “I wasn’t about to.”

Hunk didn’t look like he believed him.

With a sigh, Keith rubbed his forehead with the heel of his hand. It wasn’t like it would _hurt_ anything if he went back to bed, honestly. He couldn’t really train today very well. And there wasn’t much else they could do out in space. “Fine.”

Hunk beamed. “I’ll make you the best not-chicken chicken noodle soup you’ve ever had!”

Well... he did like chicken. And if it was kind of meat-like, maybe it would work out.

  


* * *

  


It tasted nothing like meat and just made his stomach full of liquid. The liquid settled strange on his stomach as he laid in bed, staring at the ceiling.

He wanted _meat._

Keith closed his eyes, trying to ignore the craving as he reached for sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This would have been up yesterday, except yesterday turned into "DO WE EVEN HAVE THAT PAPER?" while we tried to do our taxes. So it ended up being finished today.

He was dreaming. But the fingers through his hair made him want to stay asleep. They felt so good... Keith sighed as the fingers stroked along his cheek, along his jawline. The tips brushed along his throat, but it felt wrong, muted...

Slowly, Keith opened his eyes. Of course whoever was touching him wasn’t actually there. He sat up, one knee rising for one arm to rest across it. Whoever was touching him... it had felt good. It had felt... well. Keith groaned. Like he wanted more of it. But when it reached his throat... Absently, he touched his throat, feeling the pressure of his fingertips against his skin.

Everything felt fine to him.

Well, probably time for him to get up. A little early, but it was better being up early than going back to sleep and waking up feeling groggy. He was in the usual puddle of sweat anyway. Get up, shower, and go have breakfast. And go train for once. He felt restless after not training for so long. Keith stood up, feeling off center. Things weren’t... quite right.

Damn it. He didn’t want to get sick. Though, if he was, he could just talk to Coran and see what kind of thing he could do or take to not be sick. Altean technology was impressive like that. They didn’t have the luxury of any of them being sick, anyway, so they better figure out something.

With that thought in mind, Keith went to shower, his stomach growling at him. Damn, he could really go for... bacon. Yes. Bacon. Crispy bacon. Lots of it. Once unclothed and under the spray of water, he relaxed a bit as he tried to ignore his craving, running his hands through his hair to get it soaked. The feeling of water cooling his overheated skin didn’t change the utter craving for bacon, but it made him feel a little better.

Nothing really changed that craving. By the time he was done, toweling off and reaching for his clothes, he could have eaten the pig raw. He wanted something between his teeth that was just _meat._ Damn it. Maybe he could ask Allura to stop at a planet or a swap meet and get some meat? He couldn’t be the only one wanting something to dig his teeth into. And he was pretty certain all the other Paladins were carnivores too. He couldn’t be the only one.

Keith straightened his sleeves and headed to the dining room. It was a little dark... but he was up rather early. Maybe Pidge would be up too, having never slept, but that would be about it. He kind of hoped that Pidge _wouldn’t_ be up. She had been good about it lately...

Absently, he scratched at his chin as he entered the dining room, going for the goo pump. It wasn’t going to fulfill his craving, but at least it was something on his stomach. That was better than nothing. And as he had hoped, no one else was up. Or at least, no one else was eating at the same time he was. Which made him think everyone else was sleeping. Hopefully.

God, he hoped all of this was just him going through another growth spurt. Didn’t boys have another growth spurt in their late teens? Also, he didn’t know what it would mean for him being Galra. All Galra he knew were _huge_. So it would be possible he had a growth spurt in front of him for that. But at the same time... Keith sighed. There was nothing that said he _would_ even look like that. All his life he looked human, after all.

Just... all his life, he was aimless. An orphan without a family. Then a dropout without a goal, just the knowledge something was out there. A vague idea of something. And now... _now_ he had a goal, an aim in life, and he didn’t even know if he would be ready for it.

Keith put down his spoon, rubbing his forehead. He had to stop thinking like that. He had a goal now: Voltron. And a secondary one: learn more about his family. He could do this.

When Lance entered the dining room, Keith looked up, surprised. Lance almost never woke this early. What the-

”Oh, you’re up,” Lance mumbled. “Just getting... go back to sleep, Keith. ‘S too early. Sleep.”

”It’s not that early,” Keith shot back.

”’S early.” Lance got a water packet and sucked it down quickly. “Really early. G’back to sleep. Going back.” With those words, he turned and tottered back down the hall, yawning.

Keith wondered if he would even remember the conversation when he woke up for real.

And it wasn’t that early! Okay, maybe it was, but it wasn’t _too_ early.

  


* * *

  


He would do anything for some meat right about not. Goddamn. Keith bit his lip, trying not to snap at anyone. He just wanted to have something warm in his mouth to bite into, juices running down his chin as he ripped into the flesh and muscle...

Keith walked away, taking a deep breath. This wasn’t normal. He didn’t usually have cravings like this. Something was wrong.

Or maybe it was. He didn’t know how a Galra teen would react.

Keith whimpered slightly as he felt his stomach ripple. Okay. He definitely _needed_ meat by this point. Time to ask to stop for it. Before he ripped into someone else.

God, even the thought of doing that to someone else made him sick to his stomach.

He scratched at his jaw, as he walked over to Allura, feeling the tickle of a beard starting. Huh. Guess he’d have to shave. He didn’t have to shave often, so that was another thing he’d have to ask for. Considering how well groomed Coran was, he was pretty certain he could get a razor. “Hey. Allura.”

”Hm?” She turned to him, her eyes curious. “Yes?”

”Can we stop somewhere and get some meat like... really soon? I think it’s... something a growing Galra boy needs.”

Her eyes sharpened at his words. “Keith, are you well?”

”Yeah, just... I’m just really needing meat right now.”

Allura continued to study him before nodding. “We can certainly stop for some meat. Until then, I can show Hunk some substitutes that should hold you over until then. I’m not sure what it is you crave, but I believe the substitutes should have what you need.”

Ugh. If it was anything like the not-chicken Hunk had found, it was going to sit weird on his stomach. But Keith just nodded, knowing that was the only option they had right now. “Yeah. Okay.”

”Keith.” Her voice turned gentle. “Are you sure you are well?”

He took a deep breath. “Yeah. I’m just... you know. Missing Shiro.”

Allura’s face fell slightly at that, and she nodded. “We all do,” she told him quietly.

We all do.

Keith nodded.

”Oh... also... I um... kind of need a razor to shave with. I’m a little too young to have a good beard yet.”

Allura blinked, then nodded. “Of course. I can ask Coran where he keeps his grooming supplies. Is there anything else?”

Keith shook his head.

”Then I will start working on these requests. Please, let me know if there’s anything else. And... please let me know if you feel any different.”

He nodded. He knew what she meant - if he felt strange in relation to him being a teen Galra, his body growing up and changing. If his body changed and did something strange to him. “I will.”

”Good!” Allura smiled at him.

He smiled back, tentatively. At least she didn’t hate him anymore.

”Now, about your training. You did walk out when I was discussing it fairly quickly.”

Of course.


	3. Chapter 3

Telling Allura had the desired effect: Keith bit down into a crispy slice of some kind of meat. Oh, it tasted so good. And it was just what he needed. There was a set of some kind of vegetables next to it, something they had picked up on their next planetside trip, but he ignored it. The meat was what was important.

Keith lifted his eyes, meeting Lance’s wide ones challengingly. He knew he had no table manners right now but it didn’t matter. All that mattered was the meat. He needed _meat._

”Uh... yeah, dude, seriously, be careful before you inhale your food,” Lance told him weakly. “Slow down a little.”

Keith growled at him.

Lance held up his hands before going back to his food. When he saw Lance going to his own meat, cutting off a piece, holding a bite to his lips-

No.

Keith let out a long breath, looking down at his plate. He couldn’t- he wanted so much to hold down Lance and snatch that bit of meat from him. But he had to be calm. Collected. He wasn’t an animal, damn it. And he had his own meat in front of him. That would be enough for him. It would have to be enough for him.

”Is it enough?” Hunk leaned in, holding a steaming plate. “I have more, if you need it.”

Keith considered his words. He was still hungry, but he wasn’t... completely batshit like he was before. And if he ate more, he would probably be regretting it shortly. “Nah, I’m good,” he told Hunk. If anything, he probably needed to eat something _other_ than meat. He was also human, and humans needed all sorts of things. But when he put the vegetables to his mouth...

He put his fork down. He was done.

When he left, though, he didn’t feel fulfilled. Yeah, he had that meat craving filled, but... it wasn’t right. Or enough. Something like that. Keith sighed, rolling his shoulder as he started back to his room. He was just... tired now and needed some sleep.

This was probably some kind of human and Galra unholy fusion of puberty, he decided. He already went through the majority of the human, and now he had to go through the Galra version. Which, honestly, he didn’t know what would happen considering he didn’t even look Galra and he was pretty certain the Galra didn’t change appearance. So he wasn’t going to change appearance.

Keith yawned. He needed some sleep.

But when he curled up in his bed, sleep didn’t come easily. His body moved sluggishly, but his mind wouldn’t drop off into sleep. After a moment, Keith sighed, intending to get up when he felt someone sit down next to him. He almost could feel a smooth hand stroke his hair back, trace a line across his jaw up to his lips, coaxing them apart...

Keith sighed, reaching out for that hand, intending to pull those fingers into his mouth, only to realize they weren’t real. Slowly, he opened his eyes, sitting up. He must have dozed off. Damn it.

He closed his eyes tightly.

Damn it.

  


* * *

  


Now that he had meat, Keith felt better when training. Easier to concentrate. It didn’t mean it was easy, but... well, at least he wasn’t returning to his room without having trained at all. But that meant he was sweaty again, which meant... yet another shower. Keith shed his clothes as he went for his shower, stretching his fingers. His hands were hurting a little... maybe he needed to pay attention to how he held his Bayard.

But oh did the water feel good on his skin... Keith groaned, arching into the spray. It felt so good, so nice...

This time when he scrubbed himself down, he paused a bit. His leg hair was a little thicker than before... wasn’t it? He ran a hand across the slight trail that was growing up from his navel, a barest trail of black that hadn’t been there before. No chest hair yet... but he had never had chest hair before, even after the rest of his body hair had grown in. Keith studied his arms, noticing no change in hair there. And his face... well, he could feel the facial hair, but humans had facial hair. And it didn’t grow very fast.

He snorted, lowering his hands. This was silly. He was overthinking things.

Once he exited the shower, clean and refreshed, he went to go shave- then paused. His fingers rubbed along the coarse edge as he closed his eyes.

Shiro had always teased him about being so baby faced. The fact that he hadn’t needed to shave so often... Keith clenched his eyes shut tighter as he remembered hearing Shiro’s light words and feeling the hand ruffling his hair.

He missed Shiro. He just... he...

Keith opened his eyes, staring at the mirror. What would he look like with a beard, then? Probably pretty bad... he wasn’t old enough for any kind of beard to look good. Keith started to lather up his face, and picked up the razor, carefully shaving his skin.

He could barely tell a difference when he was done. Maybe his skin looked lighter where the hair had been shaved off.

He could still hear Shiro’s voice, teasing and gentle, and it made his heart squeeze.

  


* * *

  


God, his fingers hurt. Keith shook his hand, frowning. What the hell was going on? Why was he hurting all of a sudden?

Well, Allura did say if something happened to go to her. But this... was it worth going to her over his fingers being sore? That didn’t seem like it met the requirements. He had to have just been doing something wrong with his hands. Sleeping wrong. Holding his Bayard wrong. His fingers feeling sore... what could she do about that? It didn’t seem like it would do anything?

Anyway, he was hungry and they had meat. He needed to go eat.

Maybe he could get Hunk to make him something- no, Hunk had made something a while back that just needed to be heated up. Bless Hunk for his foresight, Keith thought as he rooted around for the dish made. And all he would have to do would be to set the oven... thing to a certain temperature and wait.

That was all.

It took far too long, he felt as he paced back and forth, waiting for it to cook. Absently, he pressed on his fingernails as he waited, feeling the odd pressure as he did so. It hurt, yes, but it was a strange hurt. He didn’t quite understand what it was.

But finally his food was done, and he pulled it out quickly, hand wrapped in a mitt. It was plated soon enough and he dug into the still hot meat, burning his mouth a little as he did. But it didn’t matter. It was meat. He was hungry.

Even if this wasn’t... exactly... what he wanted any more.


	4. Chapter 4

Everything... just...

Keith groaned. He felt so full but so hungry. It wasn’t a good feeling. Yeah, the meat helped a lot but it just wasn’t _enough._ What was going on? Why wasn’t it enough?

He sighed, rubbing his thumb along his index finger’s nail bed. This was probably reason enough to tell Allura. An intense craving for meat that wasn’t going away... time to contact the Blade of Marmora, most likely. He needed to figure out what to do about this. How to deal with the fact that he was eating himself sick.

What else waited for him? He wasn’t really getting fuzzier, as far as he could tell. He wasn’t changing color, both for his eyes and skin. No fangs or claws here. So as far as he could tell... was he growing? Was that what was happening? Keith adjusted his sleeves, checking. Were they a little shorter than normal? Were his pants a little tighter? Or maybe shorter? Damn it, he couldn’t tell. If he was growing, it wasn’t very fast.

With a sigh, Keith went to find Allura. When he found her, she frowned at him. “You look troubled,” she told him. “Is all well?”

”I’m still hungry,” he told her. “Even though I’ve eaten myself sick. You told me to come to you if anything weird happens to me.”

She nodded. “Indeed. I can contact Kolivan if you wish me to.”

Keith nodded. “That’s... probably a good idea. I’m not sure what’s going on with me.” He flexed his hand, frowning. “I mean... what’s going on here? Am I going through some twisted Galra puberty?”

”That may be it. Galra puberty is not something I’m well acquainted with. It’s very possible that you could be going through a second awakening.”

Her phrasing made Keith pause and look at her. “Awakening?”

”Well... yes. You awaken to a new body, don’t you?”

A new body... well, that was a way of looking at it. Keith swallowed, not sure if he liked what that meant, though. It... it made him think of his body turning into a Galra... what would that mean?

The idea of meeting Shiro again, covered in purple skin and fur, yellow eyed, clawed, and fanged...

Keith swallowed. ”Let me know when you get ahold of him,” he told her quietly before leaving.

He needed... to figure out what was wrong before things got bad. Worse. Just... figured things out. Keith left Allura as she turned to contact Kolivan. He didn’t need to be there while this was being talked about. He had faith Allura would figure things out.

_God_ his hands hurt.

_God_ he was hungry.

He rubbed his face as he walked, trying to ignore it all. He had to be okay.

A part of him told him what he needed, what he wanted, and he ignored it... ignored it so hard.

  


* * *

  


His hands hurt so much.

Keith groaned, curling up around his hands. He had just hit his hand against the wall as he walked and- _God._ He couldn’t do this. It hurt so much. Ow...

What was wrong? Why did he hurt so much? Why did he...

That smell. Was Hunk cooking? Keith’s head snapped up as he sniffed the air, trying to figure out what he smelled. What was that...

It was coming closer...

He sprung, landing on Lance, growling. He could feel a string of drool coming off his lips as he pinned Lance to the ground, staring down at his wide, terrified eyes as his hands dug into his shoulders. Pain shuddered through his hands as the saliva landed on Lance’s cheek, blood streaking across his coat where Keith was gripping-

Blood?

Keith looked down, and threw himself backwards, off of Lance as he held his hands up to his face. He saw his fingernails, bent back and half off... and what appeared to be something growing _under_ them...

As Lance slowly sat up, Keith stared at him, his eyes wide. “I don’t know what happened,” he whispered. “I’m just... so hungry...”

”Y-you just tried to eat me,” Lance said weakly.

”I-I’m sorry! I couldn’t-”

The two of them stared at each other for a moment, and slowly, Lance wiped the spit off his face, staring at his fingers. “You tried to eat me,” he repeated, his voice filled with disbelief. “Keith, I... I don’t... understand. That isn’t you.”

He cringed at that.

”Have... have you told Allura you’re hungry?”

Keith nodded, miserable as he pulled his hands close to his chest. He’d have to tell her about his fingers now too, and about the things growing under them.

Lance’s gaze readjusted to his hands, and he swallowed. “You hurt your hands,” he whispered, reaching out.

Keith flinched.

”Sorry, just... wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

He nodded a little at that. “I’m... okay. Just... just...”

Lance took a deep breath, visibly steeling himself. “Yeah, I get it. I mean, it was scary having you drool on top of me, but you know, you didn’t hurt me. Everything’s okay now. So... let’s get you taken care of.”

”You still smell good,” Keith managed to get out. “I still-”

That made Lance go still. “You still want to eat me.”

Keith nodded miserably.

”I’ll... uh... get Allura.”

Keith closed his eyes as Lance left, keeping himself from going after him. He’d be okay. Allura would help him. She was talking to Kolivan. She’d help him. She’d know what to do.

She’d know.

God, he hoped she’d know.


	5. Chapter 5

God, Allura smelled so good. Keith clenched his eyes shut, breathing through his mouth. Probably the only good thing right now was he didn’t have any fangs to bare at her, to dig into her flesh and rip the meat from her bones so it could slide down his throat, warm and bloody and oh so good-

He stopped that train of thought when he realized he was licking his lips.

Slowly, Keith looked up at Allura. She had talked to Kolivan. She should know something. “What is it?” he asked, almost pleading. “What’s wrong with me?”

Allura laced her fingers in front of her, and he noticed she didn’t come any closer to him. “Kolivan is not sure himself, but it sounds a bit as if you are going through a secondary awakening. Your body is coming into its Galra heritage. How that shows itself...” Here, she trailed off, and he knew what she didn’t want to say. If it showed itself as him wanting to eat the rest of Voltron, and it didn’t go away... “We do think the increased hunger, however, is a result of your growth,” she continued, “and will lessen once you are done.”

”When will that be?” he asked, thinking of his fingernails. They were bent back, but not quite... detached yet. He couldn’t rip them off yet. And there was something growing under them... he needed to figure out what that was.

”Whenever your awakening is done. We have no idea when exactly that will be.”

Because he was the only one of his kind. Only child of a human and a Galra. Of course. Keith nodded, swallowing. “Any idea how to make it easier for this whole hunger thing?”

”Kolivan suggested keeping live animals on board.” Her face showed distaste at that idea. “I suppose perhaps a compromise would be to allow you to eat whatever meat we gain raw. I would rather not have a zoo on board.”

Keith grimaced. He understood. Keeping the Castle clean would be a nightmare if they did that, and Hunk would be too attached to the animals to let Keith eat them. “Yeah.”

Allura studied him. “Will this do?”

”Yeah. I mean... it’ll have to do.” God. Good thing that Shiro wasn’t here to see this. If he saw this... Keith closed his eyes.

He’d do anything to have Shiro there.

Slowly, he stood, watching Allura take a step backwards. Not a bad idea. He... still saw her as... food. Keith took a deep breath, trying to calm down a bit. “I need to go lay down,” he told her, voice wobbling a bit.

”Of course.” She watched him carefully, and he could feel her gaze on him as he turned to leave. It wasn’t until he was out of her sight that he relaxed a bit, the feeling of wanting to attack and eat her easing.

How could he live like this? He could probably fight because he would be in his Lion, away from everyone else, but how could he live in the Castle and deal with this? The only way he could do it would be to stay in his room. Leaving it even to eat held the possibility of running into someone and eating them.

Keith took a shaking breath. He’d have to figure something out.

  


* * *

  


He knew he was dreaming. Shiro was missing.

Didn’t change the fact that in his dream, he had the biggest grin on his face as Shiro pinned him down to the ground. At least something felt good, he rationalized as Shiro grinned back down at him, stroking his hair back.

”I wish I knew where you are,” Keith told him.

”You’ll find out,” Shiro told him, leaning down, and Keith couldn’t feel his breath on him (it was a dream, after all) but he was so close-

And he woke up.

Slowly, Keith sat up. He would find out where Shiro was. Shiro was somewhere.

Damn it. He took a deep breath, starting to get out of bed before remembering what happened if he left the room. No. Bad idea. Well, maybe a good one if he just went to take a shower. And maybe the hot water would loosen his fingernails. Make it easier to pry them off without much pain, and he could see what was growing under.

Though, he knew what it was. It looked like... claws.

The thought made his skin crawl ever so slightly. He was growing claws.

What else was happening? He wasn’t growing _up_ and _out_. He was still the same height as before, and his bone structure hadn’t changed. So... what else what changing?

God, he wished he didn’t know. That it ended at claws.

The shower felt amazing, just what he needed, and he thought about the dream. Shiro telling him he would find where he was. Where he was...

Could he be... with the Galra? Maybe the Blade of Marmora would help them with that. The Galra hadn’t fallen the way they had hoped. Someone was still leading them. He didn’t know who it was, but it had to be someone with just as much power as Zarkon. Keith swallowed at the idea of Shiro being back in the hands of someone like Zarkon.

God. He needed Shiro back, now.

But he would find him. He’d get him back. And hopefully, he’d still... look like himself.

Now, he was hungry. Time to go down to the kitchen and eat some of the meat they had gotten. And hope that no one else was down there.

When he got down there, no one was there. Thankfully. And the feel of raw meat between his teeth, going down his throat... it was exactly what he needed. It was the exact thing he had always wanted as he discarded the silverware he had been using and picked up the meat with his hands, ripping into it with his teeth.

When he was done, he tried not to vomit all up.

He had never felt less human in his life.

But that was it, wasn’t it? He wasn’t human. Keith looked at his hands, at the bent back fingernails and the claws growing underneath. He wasn’t human and had never been. He wasn’t- he had never been-

Keith stood, making his way back to his room, managing not to throw up at all. He needed to keep all that meat inside him. Apparently, he was a still growing boy, still... still growing Galra boy.

He felt so incredibly sick to his stomach, though. He felt- like he needed to do something, to go train, to-

Instead, he went to lay down, swallowing.

He wasn’t human. He had to remember that.


	6. Chapter 6

His fingernails would _not_ come off. It was starting to annoy him. They were hanging on just enough that he could feel them every time they moved, but when he tried to pull them off... well, that just hurt. But if he looked carefully, Keith could see that maybe, just maybe, it was time for at least one of his nails to fall off to show what was growing underneath.

He took a deep breath, lifting the ring finger on his right hand and wiggled the nail. It hurt, bled, and he grunted. No, it didn’t... wait. He could see it separating from his skin at the base. Keith wiggled it a little more, and slowly, it came free. When it did... Keith stared down at the thing growing under it.

The... claw.

That’s the only thing it could be. It had an odd purple sheen to it, and it looked just as hard, if not harder than any of his nails. The claw was growing in quickly, and looked like it would cover his nail bed within a few more days. Keith took a deep breath, looking at his other fingers. He’d have to do the same to them, take the nails off to show the claws growing underneath.

He reached for the pinky nail next to it, and started wiggling.

When he was done, his right index finger, left pinky, and left thumbnails were all that were left. He could see the claws of the rest of the fingers. Keith took a deep breath, staring at his claws. The... proof he was definitely Galra.

It made him shudder. He didn’t want this. It wasn’t... it wasn’t _him_. This wasn’t _him_. Except it was. It was completely him, down to the DNA. He was Galra, and he would be showing it.

Keith took a deep breath and tried not to scream.

He needed to train. To do something with his body that wasn’t just... sitting in his room, getting hungrier and hungrier. He needed to _go_. It’d probably be okay for him to go down to the training deck and spar for a while against the training robots, right? No one else went down there by themselves.

He hoped he was right as he started down there, holding his bayard and moving quickly to try not to run into anyone on the way. No one should be out, he should be okay, no one should be...

No one was. He was okay. He could make it there alone and train. Keith let out a long breath, looking around the training room. Okay. Time to train. This would feel good, to finally let loose again. He needed to do this. Nervous energy had built under his skin, energy to _do something_ , and he needed to let it out before he did something dumb.

Like maybe eat everyone else.

Keith swallowed. No, he wasn’t going to think about that right now. That wasn’t the point of this. He was going to train. He was going to put his body through motions and make himself _not think_ for a while.

With that thought, Keith lifted his bayard. “Start simulation.”

  


* * *

  


Ow. His ass hurt. He had hit the floor a little too hard. But now he felt a lot better. It should have made sense that he would be hungrier after that, but... the violence made him _less_ hungry. More in control.

The ramifications of that made him go cold.

But he wasn’t thinking about that. He couldn’t think of it. No, instead he was just going to go back to his room and wash up. Throw himself into the shower and feel better by washing the sweat off his body.

But when he took his pants off...

No...

Keith had the razor in his hands before he realized it. The hair on his legs was so dense, so- so much like _fur_ -

And then he stopped, looking at his hands. At where the gloves had covered, and the growing black fuzz across the backs of them. It hadn’t gone up his arms, it just stayed across the back of his hands, but...

Keith ran for the mirror. His face. What did it look like? Did he have yellow eyes? Purple skin? He studied his reflection, pulling his lips away from his teeth to check for fangs. Nothing, but... he saw what looked like a shadow across his neck and shoulders, curling up to his ears. When he touched it with his fingers, it felt like...

Fur.

He was growing fur.

The glass crunched under his fist, his reflection spiderwebbing before him. Slowly, Keith pulled his fist back, his arm shaking as he did so.

Fur.

Not all Galra had fur, he remembered, staring down at his bleeding hand. But when he looked up, all he could remember was Sendak, and the fur he had-

No. Thace also had fur. Some furry Galra were good.

And- and Zarkon didn’t have fur. So some non-furry Galra were bad.

But when he looked-

He had to take care of his hand. He had to... to patch up his hand. Keith started the water, running it over his hand and watching the blood run down the drain.

And watch his fur grow even darker as it grew wet.

Fur. And claws.

He had claws and fur.

He’d have to tell Allura. She needed to know what was happening to-

To-

He looked at his hands. He still had the nails left on his fingers. Right index finger. Left pinky. Left thumb. The rest were claws.

And then the fur.

It was... it was going to be okay. He knew how to make himself less hungry. It-

It was violence. It was the most Galra way possible.

Keith didn’t know when the breathy, high pitched scream started, but he knew he couldn’t stop it even when he clamped his mouth shut.


	7. Chapter 7

It took an effort, but Keith managed to stop screaming after a bit. Okay. So he had fur and claws. And he was starting to get hungry again. He could deal with this. It was okay. He just needed to go get some gauze to wrap his hand up with. He would be okay.

Keith shut off the water, taking deep breaths. He’d be okay. He’d-

”-okay, you look over there, Hunk. I’ll check the bathroom. Keith!”

Lance. His heart picked up, his pulse slamming in his throat. No- go- but the bathroom door opened, and there was Lance, looking in at him, seeing him naked and furry-

Keith growled, holding his hand to his chest. “Get out.”

For a moment, Lance’s mouth just moved soundlessly. Then, he looked at the hand held to Keith’s chest, and his gaze sharpened. “You’re hurt. You’re bleeding.”

”I said get out.”

”Hunk!” Lance called over his shoulder. “Get some first aid stuff. Keith’s hurt.” He turned back to Keith, worried. “Come on. You need some pants, too.”

”Are you deaf, Lance? Get out!”

”Here.” Why wasn’t Lance listening to him? Instead, he was pulling out a pair of his pants, throwing them at Keith, forcing him to catch them. “Put these on. Hunk should be back soon. Come on, come on out.”

Keith sighed, awkwardly pulling the pants on one-handed. When he was done, he followed Lance to his bed, pulling his hand away as Lance reached out. He was already trying very hard not to eat Lance right now. “Why aren’t you listening to me?” he growled as he sat down.

”Because I heard you screaming through my music. Now let me see your hand. Your knuckles and fingers are bleeding and I need to see what’s going on there.” Lance held his hand out, and with a sigh Keith let Lance take it. “Hmm... there’s some glass stuck in there. I’ll have to wait for Hunk to get back with the first aid kit so I can pull that out. Your fingers...” He let out a whistle as he picked one up. “Did you pull all your fingernails off? That’s dumb. You should have waited until they fell off on their own.”

Keith bristled at that. “What are you-”

Lance looked up at him, a grin plastered on his face. “What, do you think seeing what looks like claws and a little fur is going to phase me? You already tried to eat me. If anything, this is kind of cool. Almost wolfman-ish. And it makes things make a lot of sense. So that’s why Kaltenecker disappeared...”

What did he- had the raw meat he had been eating been the _cow_? Keith felt his stomach turn.

”Don’t look like that! Ah, Hunk, great timing.” Lance held his free hand out and made grabby motions. “Gimme.”

Hunk passed him the first aid kit, then sat down next to Keith as Lance pulled out everything he needed. “Hey buddy,” he said quietly, his large eyes worried. “You doing okay?”

”I’m furry and bleeding,” Keith said sarcastically. “You tell me.”

”Oh, um... I just wondered besides that. I mean, you becoming furry is kind of one of those things we knew was going to happen. Right?” He looked over at Lance as he worked on pulling glass shards from Keith’s hand. “Right?”

”Right.” Lance nodded.

”See? I mean, you’re Galra. So you’re going to look a little different. It’s not a bad different! You’re still Keith. It’s like... you’re finally growing into being Keith.”

What. Keith blinked at him. It... kind of made sense in that it didn’t. “I- ow! Fucking hell, Lance!”

”I’m not the one that punched a mirror,” Lance shot back, setting the large shard of glass aside. “Now good thing this stuff doesn’t sting like the stuff on Earth but you still have to stay still,” he told him as he sprayed antibac on the wounds. Quickly, he wrapped his hand, then stared at his fingers. “I have no idea what to do about the nail idiocy, though.”

”Lance, it-”

”I mean, I do see the claws growing in, but they’re still bleeding now. And we need to take care of that.”

”Lance, I’ll be okay.”

Hunk patted his shoulder. “Just let it happen, Keith. We care about you that much.”

Keith grumbled, feeling something twist in his chest. But finally, Lance sighed, sitting back. “Not going to do anything?” Keith asked.

”Nah. Looks like they’ve stopped bleeding on their own.”

”Good. Now get out.”

”Mm, no.” Lance leaned forward. “Ever since Shiro went missing, you’ve been... well, kind of... distant. And this whole... I don’t know, Galra puberty thing? isn’t helping. We’re going to stay here and talk until you open up and tell us what’s wrong.”

Keith’s teeth grit. Of course they’d mention Shiro. And next to his Galra heritage... “What do you think is wrong? We can’t find Shiro. The Galra are still around, making just as much trouble as before. And I’m turning into something... weird! I don’t even know what you can call what I am!”

”Uh, Keith?” Hunk blinked at him. “I think we can call you Keith.”

That made him roll his eyes.

”Yeah, but he’s right,” Lance insisted. “No matter what it is, we can always call you Keith. That’s who you’ll always be, no matter what. You could look fully like a Galra and you’re still Keith.”

The words had Keith look down at his hands. “You don’t actually believe any of that.”

”Dude, how long have we been fighting and you don’t know us yet? Of course we do!”

Hunk nodded.

Keith sighed. “Fine. Let’s say you believe it. When we find Shiro, he’ll have to see me like this. Or worse.” And if he saw a monster... his heart squeezed at the thought of Shiro seeing him as a monster.

”Oh.” Lance shifted next to him. “Shiro would know it’s you. He knows you the best out of all of us.”

”Yeah, but... I’d look like one of _them._ Or like a... a monster.”

”He’d still know,” Lance told him gently. “He’d always know.”

The words hit him, twisting inside of him in indescribable ways. Slowly, he nodded, not quite believing it but... wanting to. Wanting to believe that Shiro would see him and always know that it was him, Keith, and he would-

He would-

Lance patted his leg, breaking his line of thought. “I’m going back to bed. Don’t break any more mirrors, Beast.”

”Huh?”

”From Beauty and the- look, dude, even _I_ saw the Disney animated musical. How did you not?”

Keith shrugged.

Lance sighed. “I’ll explain it to you when I’ve had my beauty rest. Or Hunk will. Either way, I’m going to bed. Night!” He got up, then looked back at Keith. “And hey. You wear fur well. I think Shiro would think the same too.”

Why was Keith blushing when he left?

Hunk patted his shoulder as he rose as well. “I’ll explain Beauty and the Beast to you later. I need sleep too. You get some sleep, okay?” His worried eyes bore into Keith’s. “We miss you and we want to make sure you’re okay. And that means getting plenty of rest.”

”I- okay.”

”Good.” Hunk grinned. “Sleep well.”

And then Keith was left alone, and he looked down at his bandaged hand.

That was...

Huh.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> /casually updates rating and warnings

Someone was knocking at his door.

”Go away.”

Nope, still knocking.

”I swear to God, Lance, if that is you, I _will_ eat you.”

Knocking paused for a moment, then resumed.

Keith sighed, getting up out of bed. His eyes felt like they were full of grit and his head felt strange. But considering he hadn’t gotten much sleep, spending most of the night stroking his fur and wondering what Shiro would think...

It was probably time to get up anyway, he thought as he opened the door, glaring at Lance. “You do remember I can and will eat you, right?” Keith growled at him.

”Nah, you won’t eat me,” Lance said blithely. “And you’re also not going to wallow in pity. Get up.”

Keith felt his glare intensify. “I’m not wallowing in pity!”

”Then you’re not going to hide from us anymore. Either way. Get dressed and come on. We have fresh sliced Kaltenecker,” Lance said in a singsong voice, making Keith’s skin crawl.

”I don’t actually think that’s the cow,” he mumbled. “It doesn’t taste like steak.”

For a moment, there was relief on Lance’s face. But it was hidden just as fast. “Eh. Either way. You need to eat something and we have meat on board. And it’s just for you. So get dressed and come on down.”

”You do know you get to watch me eat now, right?” Keith shot back at him as he turned to get dressed. “That means you get to see me eat meat. Do you know how I eat now?” He pulled his shoes on, looking up at him as he tied the laces.

Lance shook his head.

”Raw meat. With my hands. You want to see that?”

”Oh.” Yeah, just as he expected, Lance looked sick to his stomach. “Well... I mean...”

”I thought so.”

”Well!” Lance shook his head. “I mean, you really do need to come out of your room and socialize. And like... it shouldn’t bother us. This is you. And so we’re going to treat it as you. So come eat.”

Keith sighed. “If you puke, it’s not my fault.”

”I won’t puke! It’s going to take more than eating raw meat with your hands to make me puke.”

He’d see about that.

  


* * *

  


Well. Lance looked sick, but he hadn’t puked. Keith dug his teeth into the meat, ripping it away as he stared at Lance, his gaze challenging. In return, Lance’s eyes narrowed, and he ate some of his goo.

”And I’m out,” Pidge said, standing. Hunk had left early on, Keith’s interest in raw meat getting to him immediately. Now, with Pidge leaving, it was just the two of them.

Keith was going to make Lance puke if it was the last thing he did. He slurped a little at the blood running from the meat, feeling a little strange doing so, but oh so validated when Lance swallowed hard.

Instead, Lance defiantly ate more goo.

Oh it was on.

Keith ripped another bit of meat away, growling at he stared at Lance.

”Paladins! To the bridge!”

Lance looked extremely relieved at Allura’s voice as he rocketed to his feet, running for the door. Keith on the other hand...

Well, he wasn’t done eating yet.

He sighed, getting up. They should be back soon enough. And he’d be able to eat the rest of it then.

  


* * *

  


Keith wasn’t sure where things went wrong. They had engaged a fleet of Galra... which lead to them boarding a ship for some reason? Oh, right, because they had prisoners on board. And while Pidge’s reasons were long standing... they all hoped also that they might find Shiro there as well. Or at least some information as to where Shiro was.

But now...

”I’m back at Green,” he heard Pidge say. “Status?”

”On my way back to Blue,” Lance said over the com link. “Keith?”

He leaned his head around the corner, noticing the guards coming towards him. “Busy,” he said shortly, turning to hide. Damn it. He needed to get back to Red. They hadn’t found what they needed, and he was getting hungry. So, so hungry.

He just needed to get back to the ship. They had gotten what they needed, or at least Pidge had gotten _something_. So he just needed to slip by all the Galra and just-

”There!”

Damn! Keith lifted his arm, his particle shield snapping into place as he held his bayard. Two Galra... if he got through both of them, he should be able to get back to Red. He kept his shield up as they shot at him, twisting his body to keep his shield in place as he sliced at the nearest Galra. The second one took a step back as his comrade fell at the sudden violent attack, eyes wide. Keith narrowed his eyes, taking the advantage to attack, his blade entering the Galra’s throat.

And then...

And then...

Keith’s helmet hit the floor. He could hear Lance’s voice, tinny and far away, and he fell to his knees, wrenching the dead Galra’s head to one side. He bit into the smooth skin, using his teeth to rip it open so he could get to the meat under it-

”Keith!

His head suddenly snapped up at Lance’s voice. That was... nearby. No, that was... right in front of him.

And he was kneeling in front of a dead Galra, his mouth full of Galra flesh, face covered in Galra blood...

He looked down at the body in front of him. Damn it. This was... but he was still so hungry...

”G-get your helmet back on,” Lance said shakily. “We’ll feed you once we get back. You’re pro-probably going through another growth... growth spurt or something.”

Keith closed his eyes, swallowing the flesh in his mouth before taking a deep breath. ”Yeah,” he whispered. “I’ll head towards Red now.”

Lance smiled at him, giving him a thumbs up, and while Keith couldn’t tell, it didn’t look like the smile reached his eyes.

Damn it.

Keith’s stomach rolled as he made his way back to the Castle.


	9. Chapter 9

Hot water never ran out on the Castle. Keith closed his eyes as it ran over him, head bowing. He placed his hand on the shower wall, taking a deep breath.

What had he done? He... he _ate_ a fallen Galra. He was so hungry that he just...

Was that _normal_? Did growing Galra eat each other? Or was it something that was just for him? Something unique to him because he wasn’t fully Galra?

Keith slammed his hand against the wall, gritting his teeth. He needed to talk to Kolivan. Which meant asking Allura to get in touch with him. Which meant... asking Allura. After she saw him covered in blood, knowing he had eaten a Galra.

God, he hoped she was asking Kolivan right now for him.

With a deep breath, he shut the water off, moving to dry himself. Having fur now just... made it that much harder to dry off. That wasn’t fun at all. Keith snorted to himself at that thought. None of this was fun at all. None of it.

With a sigh, he got dressed and set out to find Allura. He needed to ask her to contact Kolivan so they knew what the hell was going on. Which meant going to find her. So the first place he looked was the bridge, hoping she was talking to Kolivan already.

Which she was.

Thank God.

”Ah, Keith.” Kolivan’s eyes rested on him as he came forward, his voice slightly distorted by the transmission. “I hear you’ve had a difficult time recently.”

Keith resisted snorting at that.

Kolivan’s look said he saw how close he had come, though. “Intense hunger is normal,” he told him. “It will spike when another part of you will awaken to your heritage. I see you grew fur... that may help us narrow down who your mother is, as who can grow fur is genetic. If your skin changes, either texture or color, that is normal as well. Normally it would be texture for most Galra, however...” Here, his eyes sharpened. “It wouldn’t surprise me if you took on some kind of Galra coloration.”

”So I’ll turn purple,” Keith said bitterly.

”Purple is one color, yes.”

Great. “So what happens when I try to eat everyone else here? Or if I actually manage to when it spikes? I mean, I ate a freaking _dead Galra._ ”

Kolivan actually looked disturbed at that, which didn’t make him feel better. “That... happened, yes. As long as you are allowed free access to as much raw meat as you want, you shouldn’t have another moment like that. And once you are done, it will settle down. Though, I wouldn’t attempt to go back to your previous diet. Your hunger awoke to your heritage, and you should continue to eat as such.”

Which meant eating alone, since his eating habits made others puke. He was damn certain Lance had thrown up as soon as he could after that mission. “Yeah.”

Great. He wasn’t done. And his skin might change as well. Great.

”If you have any other questions,” Kolivan said, breaking through his thoughts, “you may contact me at a later date.”

Keith nodded, miserable. There wasn’t really much he could say about it. Just... he was going to be...

He was going to be a liability for who knew how long.

”I’m going back to my room,” he said, not really aiming it at Allura as he turned to leave. Ignoring Allura, he left, taking deep breaths.

He was going to be a liability. And worse. He was going to be a danger to everyone on board.

And if him getting so hungry he ate a Galra was any indication, he was about to grow something soon.

Keith shivered.

  


* * *

  


”We’ve got to stop meeting like this,” Keith whispered, his fingers gently stroking Shiro’s arms as he loomed over him.

”It’s the only way we can meet right now,” Shiro told him seriously. “But you guys are on the right track. Pidge is going to find something soon.”

Keith paused, eyebrows furrowing. “Am I dreaming? Or are you really talking to me?”

Shiro didn’t answer, only stroked his face. “You wear fur well.”

Keith woke up suddenly, the words ringing in his ears. Those had been Lance’s words, jarring on Shiro’s lips. No wonder it woke him up. But everything else...

He rubbed his face, sitting up. Was Shiro using some kind of telepathy to talk to him? Was there something like that where he was? Or was it some kind of side effect from fusing Voltron so many times? Could they all do that if they were separated? That could have been useful... but he hadn’t fallen asleep while he had been separated before by Zarkon’s witch. Maybe not that, then.

So... maybe then it was just a dream? Him projecting the desire to find Shiro that hard onto a dream version of him saying they’d find him soon?

Keith sighed. Any way it was, he just... wanted to find Shiro.

He got out of bed, feeling hungry. Time to eat some raw meat again. He went to splash some water on his face, clear his head of the remains of the dream before he left, and stopped when he saw his face.

Had the veins of his face always been so clearly defined?

Had they... had they always been that... purple?

Keith swallowed.

No, no, no... he didn’t want this...

No, he knew Kolivan said, but...

He didn’t want, he wanted to look human, not like a monster-

He didn’t _want this_. He- he-

Keith slammed his hands over his mouth, trying to keep from screaming and waking Lance up again as he stared at his face and saw the fine webbing of purple crawl over his face.


	10. Chapter 10

The purple stopped spreading after an hour.

Which... was bad.

Keith looked into the mirror, his eyes wide. From eye to mouth, the right side of his face was almost completely purple. It faded into a spiderweb of veiny purple across his left side, curling around his human pale skin. He had stripped, and it looked like the purple only concentrated on that side of his face. The veined purple thinned out and faded the further it got from his face, disappearing by the time it reached his toes. But all around, he was... purple.

What was next? Fangs? Were his teeth about to fall out next? Were his eyes about to change?

Keith threw on some clothes quickly and rushed out. Allura. She had to call Kolivan. She had to get him to tell her what to expect next.

When he found her, she was talking to someone. Another Blade of Marmora member. “This is most useful,” Allura said, her voice full of wonder as she read something on her data slate. “Why was it that Kolivan never told me of this before?”

The Blade of Marmora chuckled, a deep rich noise. “Kolivan is a wonderful leader,” they said, and Keith scrunched up his face trying to figure out if that was a male or female voice he heard there. He... wasn’t really sure. It was a nice voice. “But he has never had a litter. Thus he’s not... quite that aware of what the awakening means for adults. I assume your kitten is fully grown by now?”

”Yeah,” Keith said, coming forward. “I stopped growing already, at least for a human.”

The Galra tilted their head. “Ah, so you’re the Paladin. I can see why Kolivan was so hesitant as well. I should ask you a few quick questions: Have you reached sexual maturity?”

Keith instantly felt himself flush. “What the hell?”

”I apologize. I’m a doctor, and these are questions I’m used to asking for my patients about your age. They are blunt, but necessary. Have you reached sexual maturity?”

Blushing furiously, Keith nodded.

”Are you sexually active?”

He shook his head.

”Hm. I see. That, perhaps, is good. There could be the possibility of you becoming pregnant, if your body does indeed follow our own.”

Allura blinked, looking up. “Are you saying that your species is-”

”Intersex, yes. It shouldn’t be a change you see, Paladin, but if you do, do not be alarmed. There is a chapter in the manual I sent your princess for dealing with both sets of genitalia, since I’m not... quite sure what you would have.”

God, he would never stop blushing. Keith just nodded, mortified.

”Good. Now, let me see your claws.”

Mutely, he held up his hand. At least they weren’t talking about his junk anymore.

”The last of your old claws should be ready to fall off about now. I see the new ones are growing in nicely, and they look quite healthy at a glance. The color is the proper, healthy color. I do wish I could be there in person to take your vitals. While I don’t doubt you have proper care on board, they are not Galra and would not know how to interpret them. I would also like to have an x-ray of you. I would like to see if perhaps you have the formation of a tail starting.”

Keith went cold. “I-I don’t have a-”

”I would also wish to see your feet to see if you have padding-”

”I don’t!” he snapped. “I-”

The doctor went quiet. “I don’t wish you alarm you,” they finally said gently. “I only wish to see what it is you are going through, and how to ease you through it. If you will have a tail, then you can start to prepare for it. If your feet are growing pads and claws, you can prepare for that as well. And if I could get your vitals, I could estimate how far you are in your awakening. Your body temperature, heart rate, blood pressure... all of it tells a story of how far you are.”

Keith grit his teeth.

”I cannot go to your location at this time. I’m due to a mission myself. But I do wish to help you the best I can, Paladin.”

Slowly, Keith nodded. “What do you need?”

”If you could do a scan of yourself and send it to me as soon as you can, I will take a look at it. When I’m done, I’ll contact you again with more information.”

Keith closed his eyes. It didn’t sound too bad. “Fine,” he said, opening his eyes.

The Galra doctor nodded. “And do read what I sent your princess. Much of it does not apply to you, as you are fully grown already, but there should be some things you will find useful. And Paladin-” Here, the doctor hesitated. “I will do what I can to help you.”

Keith nodded, turning to Allura. “I’m going to need some help using the stuff down in the med bay.”

”Of course.” She turned back to the screen. “Thank you, Doctor. This will be most helpful.”

”You’re welcome.” The transmission was cut immediately after that, and Keith felt his breath leave him immediately.

Intersex. Tail. Foot pads and claws. Maybe even _more_ than that.

Keith swallowed.

”Are you okay, Keith?” Allura asked, worried.

”No!” He spun, looking at her. “Look at me, Allura! I’m a fucking _monster._ My genes can’t even have the decency for me to look completely Galra. I’m this fucked up hybrid of a thing that keeps getting worse. What’s going to happen next, Allura? Are my teeth going to fall out? Is just one eye going to turn yellow? Am I going to suddenly become intersex? Am I growing a tail? Are my feet-” Keith broke off, that last bit making his gorge rise. Some of that he could deal with better than others. His junk changing wouldn’t even really phase him, considering what else happened. But his eyes- a _tail_ \- his _feet_ -

”You are not a monster,” Allura told him sternly. “When did you hear that?”

”I-”

”My Paladins are not monsters. This is merely something new for you. No matter what happens, you are still you. You will still be a Paladin of Voltron.”

Keith closed his eyes. She didn’t understand at all.

”I will not let you wallow in pity,” she said, her voice unforgiving. “You are changing, yes, and this is different than you are used to. But you are not a _monster_ and never have been. And in the end, you never will be.”

”Easy for you to say,” Keith muttered.

She sighed. “Perhaps. But I will not aid in your bad behavior. Now, let’s go down to the med bay and do your scans. When we know how far along you are, we should know more about what to expect next.”

He nodded, knowing he had lost the argument with her. Allura wasn’t going to listen to him.

But maybe... she was kind of right. At least... in the fact that everyone wasn’t that upset about what was happening. They didn’t seem to see him as a monster.

But...

Keith looked at his hand.

What would Shiro say when he finally saw him again?


	11. Chapter 11

It was surreal to read the information the doctor had given them. Basically, the information was a handbook for Galra pre-teens going through puberty, and some of the stuff they went through- fuck, he was lucky his dick didn’t have to do that. But at the same time, he saw the other side of it, and when he shifted his weight, he... didn’t have to have a doctor tell him. He was going to change there too. Nothing had changed yet, but he just... knew.

He could deal with that, though. Different looking junk was nothing next to how he could have a _tail._ And he was afraid he might. His ass hadn’t stopped hurting since he took that fall during training, and now his entire lower back started to hurt. He was growing a tail.

Keith felt like vomiting at the idea. A tail. His body was going to grow something completely foreign to him.

But... it might help him narrow down his mother more. According to the text, fur and tails were hereditary. The purple wouldn’t help since so many Galra had purple skin. But he’d be able to narrow down who his mother was from a large range of Galra...

Well, Galra. Since it seemed all of them could get pregnant.

Keith put down the data slate, resting back in his bed and placed a hand on his stomach. He kind of hoped if he did have both, the ovaries were non-functional. Or that there was some birth control that worked for him. He was _not_ ready to have a kid, and he couldn’t wrap his head around actually carrying one. His thumb stroked his stomach as he thought, tilting his head. If he had the right person...

Suddenly, he imagined Shiro’s hand covering his, possessively over his stomach-

... he just couldn’t imagine it. The idea of carrying a kid, especially into this universe, it was just...

Besides. He wasn’t much more than a kid himself. No use getting knocked up, or getting anyone else knocked up at this stage in his life. That was a bad idea all the way around.

Keith let his hand drop, sighing. He wasn’t supposed to have these thoughts. But then again, he wasn’t supposed to be anything but human and look where that got him. With a deep breath, Keith picked up the data slate again, reading.

He didn’t quite understand what the recommendation was for how much meat to eat, but he had a feeling it was a lot more than he could stomach. But from what he could tell, it basically boiled down to “eat as much meat as you can, when you can, as often as you can.” Which he could do. Nothing about what happened if he didn’t do that, but... yeah, he figured that out on his own. Galra youth probably were fed enough by their mothers that this wasn’t an issue. Or if eating each other was an issue, he kind of wished someone would have told him that earlier. Though, he would have thought the doctor would say something about that if it was an issue... maybe all he really did need to do was just eat until he passed out.

It recommended keeping active. He remembered how much better he felt when sparring. That made sense.

Keith stood, still reading. He was getting hungry, and that meant making sure he didn’t eat the rest of the crew. With his eyes still stuck on the screen, he made his way down to the kitchen.

”And then my sister- whoa, Keith.” Lance’s story broke off as Keith entered, making him look up at him. “... no, seriously. The purple just makes it more obvious. You don’t moisturize. Hunk, why am I surrounded by people who don’t care about their appearance?”

Hunk just made a soothing noise, pushing a tray into the oven. “So, uh... um... the meat’s right over here.” He looked a little sick to his stomach as he pulled it out. “Do you have to eat it raw?”

Keith nodded. “Galra thing. I can leave-”

”Sit your butt down,” Lance commanded, pointing.

He glared at him. “Make me.”

Lance stood, a challenging look on his face, then looked down at Keith’s hands. “Nah,” he said lazily, sitting back down. “I’d rather not make you put down what you’re reading.”

He had been looking at the claws, but... that was nice. That he didn’t mention them.

”What are you reading?” Hunk asked, settling far away from Keith. He still looked sick, but interested.

”Basically a manual for Galra pre-teens for puberty,” he told them. “A Blade of Marmora doctor gave it to me.”

”Cool.” Lance nodded. “But you’re still sitting down with us. You haven’t made me puke yet with your eating and you’re not about to.”

That was a lie, and they both knew it. Lance had almost definitely puke after seeing Keith eat a dead Galra, once he returned to the Castle. But Keith didn’t say anything about that. He wasn’t really that sure if Hunk knew about that, and he didn’t feel like upsetting him. Hunk’s stomach was already delicate to begin with.

”Fine,” he said instead, grabbing the meat.

And for Hunk, he grabbed himself a fork and knife so he looked somewhat civilized while eating raw meat.

”So...” Lance leaned in. “What’s up? Are you going to grow an awesome tail or something?”

Keith twitched.

”You’re so going to grow a tail! You owe me dessert, Hunk!”

”Don’t talk about it like that!” Keith snapped out. “Don’t... I...”

”Dude.” Lance’s eyes were wide. “I’m just trying to act normal about this. It’s still a part of you, right? It’s nothing weird.”

Keith curled up slightly. “I don’t want a tail,” he muttered. “It...”

”It’s the furthest thing from being human, right?” Keith looked over at Hunk, seeing his sympathetic face. “You’re still going to be part human, right? A tail doesn’t change that.”

Lance nodded. “It doesn’t change who you are at all.”

”But it looks-!” Keith clenched his teeth. “It looks... you can tell I’m Galra at a glance if I have a tail,” he told them. “And... and if Shiro...”

”Hey. Shiro would know it’s you. You two are like... linked in some weird way. He’d know. So don’t worry about it.”

”I still don’t look human,” he told Lance. “I look like a m-”

”Ah- ah!” Hunk raised a finger. “Not the ‘M’ word in my kitchen!”

Keith blinked.

”And you look like Keith,” Lance told him. “That’s all that matters to me. With that unmanaged skin and stupid mullet, you’re still Keith.”

He rolled his eyes.

Then, slowly, put down the data slate and started eating.

”So are you going to talk to the doctor again?” Hunk asked, starting to look green around the edges.

Keith nodded. He would love to use his hands right now, but... civilized company. “They’re supposed to look over my scans and call back soon,” he told them. “I’m just passing the time, waiting for them to interpret the scans.”

”Cool.” Lance nodded. “Hey, so, you have to try what Hunk’s making once he’s done. They look like cupcakes to _die_ for.”

”I’ll... be sure to try them.”

It was... kind of nice for Lance and Hunk to talk to Keith that was. Kind of... like he belonged, even if he looked like a horrible mishmash of two worlds.

And... it was nice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The ever wonderful Zenthisoror drew Keith peeling off his nails [here](http://zenthisoror.tumblr.com/post/160098100876/2842017-a-wee-bit-of-galra-keith-body-horror). Beware, it's pretty body horror.


	12. Chapter 12

”Hm. I see.”

Keith had never liked doctors. Not one bit. Probably no one did, though. But right now... he found himself leaning forward a bit, hopeful. “You see?”

They nodded, putting down the data slate. “You’re about done. I saw what appears to be both sets of genitalia on you, but one side sealed off. You should have that opening soon.”

Keith nodded. He had a feeling.

”You’re also growing a tail. I would say you’re about due for another hunger spike in the next twelve vargas. The opening and tail should happen at the same time, if I’m not mistaken. Other than that, it doesn’t look like you’re to grow anything else. I don’t see the start of fangs, your ocular region doesn’t seem to be shifting towards anything more Galra related, and your feet are not changing at all.”

Keith nodded.

”I would keep track of your body temperature,” they continued, leaning forward a bit. “That will be your first warning sign. But other than that... congratulations, you’ve made it through your awakening.”

He nodded for the third time. Well, he made it... “What do I need to worry about after?”

”The text I gave you should go over nail and fur maintenance. Of course-” Their eyes sparkled a little here. “Always use protection when having intercourse. You’re not in good spot for children, and you’re still too young for it. You should now always have a meal that is more than 80% meat. 100% would be ideal if you were full blooded, but I’ve seen your body also needs other nutrients from a source other than meat. But you will need more meat than you’re used to.”

”I can assure we will have enough meat on board,” Allura said.

The doctor nodded at Allura. “Do you have any more questions, Paladin?”

”Just...” Keith clenched his fists, feeling his claws bite into the leather of his gloves. “How fast should it happen?”

The doctor sat back. “It would take up to five quintants. Your body is not like a Galra’s - normally, _growing_ a tail isn’t a thing that happens after birth. It can happen, which is why the text mentions it, but usually if a Galra youth is to have a tail, they were born with it. Growing one takes time and energy. Opening your body to the genitalia within... that should take perhaps two to five vargas.”

Keith took a deep breath. “Okay. So... other than the hunger spike, how will I know it’s happening?”

”It will be painful.” Their face was dead serious. “Most certainly enough to distract you from your normal duties.”

Painful. Keith nodded. He could deal with some pain.

”Do you have any more questions?”

”No.” None he could think of at the moment.

The doctor nodded. “Then I will close the transmission. I will be out of contact starting tomorrow. You can still contact Kolivan regarding any simple matters, however. He does at least remember what he himself went through, though he might not have had any litters himself.” The doctor reached over to sign off, then paused. “Paladin. Do you know who your Galra parent is?”

”Just that it’s my mom, she’s probably a Blade of Marmora member, and I never got to know her.”

”Hm. So your Galra parent would be female-minded...” The doctor tapped their lips. “A female-minded tailed furred Blade of Marmora member... I will keep an eye out for one that matches your description.”

A sudden relief filled Keith. The idea of meeting his mom, even like this... “Thank you.”

The doctor nodded, ending the transmission. Keith and Allura turned to each other, and Keith took a deep breath, letting it out slowly.

”If you are hungry, the kitchen should be free,” Allura told him, kindly.

”I’m just... I don’t want a tail, Allura,” he muttered, rubbing his face. “I didn’t want any of this.”

He felt her coming closer, and she touched his shoulder. “You are among friends,” she told him. “You don’t need to hide from us anything.”

Keith sighed. “Except that... Allura... _Shiro._ ”

”Ah.” She lowered her arm. “I don’t doubt it would surprise him, your new look, but he should take it in stride after a while. He _is_ your leader, and you and him most certainly have a bond that no other Paladins have.”

His hand touched his stomach, remembering how it felt to imagine Shiro’s hand cradling him, possessively, almost as if he had-

Keith blinked. Where had that come from?

”I suppose.” Keith dropped his hand. “I’m going to go wash up.”

And prepare. For the last bit of upcoming pain.

  


* * *

  


”Shiro, tell me, right off,” Keith demanded, back against the floor as his hands rested on Shiro’s chest. “Am I dreaming? Or are we really talking?”

Shiro paused. “I- I can’t answer that. I don’t know if I can.”

Maybe- maybe they were? Maybe this wasn’t just a dream? Or maybe it was, and it was his mind wishing Shiro could hear him in his dreams.

”Does it matter?” Shiro’s hand stroked his face.

”I suppose not,” Keith sighed. “I just- wish that if we were actually talking, you could tell me something about where you are. So we could come get you.”

”You are coming to get me. Patience.”

And then Shiro was kissing him and it was-

He didn’t ever want to wake up. This was so perfect. He didn’t realize he needed this until now but he needed it. So much. He needed-

Keith woke up.

He gently pressed two fingers against his lips, a pale memory of the dream. Of Shiro kissing him.

Well. That was a thing.

A ripple of hunger ran through him, and Keith sighed, sitting up.

It began.


	13. Chapter 13

Burning up, already stuffing his face full of meat, and entire lower torso hurting.

It was time.

Keith sighed, shifting to try to get comfortable. Hopefully it would be over soon. What was it that the doctor said would come first...? The genitalia thing, right. Well, that should take care of the dull ache around his groin area once it was done.

Though, he was a little worried. The stock of meat looked a little low now. He’d have to tell Allura so they didn’t run out in the middle of this and he tried to eat like... Hunk or someone. If he did that... God, they kept saying he wasn’t a monster, but if he did that, it would be hard to agree with them.

Who was he kidding. He’d already eaten a dead Galra.

Okay, so he was getting ready to finish up whatever Galra puberty he was going through. Next five days were not going to be fun. But he should have at least one part of it over with soon. Keith rubbed his stomach, imagining what it would be like once that was done. Would he get periods? Galra didn’t, but that may not apply to him and his possibly human uterus. It might decide it needed to shed itself and he’d get a period, which... yeah, he’d have to let Pidge know what was going on so he could get her advice on how to deal with them. He wasn’t sure if Alteans also dealt with that, so he wasn’t sure he could go to Allura about it. And it was just... embarrassing to think about going to Allura and saying that if she didn’t get it. Though, Pidge would have had to find supplies somewhere, so she might be fairly used to it. She may have a solution.

If he had periods... would that mean that he was fertile? Keith let out a long breath, hand splaying over his lower abdomen. Would he even care in the future if he was?

Shiro might... why was he even coming back to Shiro? He felt his cheeks burn in embarrassment as he went back to eating. Yeah, he had dreamt about kissing him, but- he didn’t- Shiro wasn’t-

Keith closed his eyes tightly.

He always worried what Shiro would think, if it would trigger him into any sort of panic attacks or PTSD flashbacks if he saw Keith and the mishmash he had become. If that happened... he couldn’t fight alongside Shiro if he was going to remind him of the torture he had gone through. And then just... whatever else he had developed for Shiro over this time. The urge to kiss him, to... to love him.

If he reminded Shiro of his captors, he would lose any chance of that happening.

Keith felt his lower torso ripple in pain, and he hissed. The new junk was coming first, according to the doctor. If this was how a period felt, he didn’t want one. It felt... terrible. He ached, his entire lower body feeling like it rearranged itself. Keith shifted, grunting. This needed to be over with, fast.

And then came the fact his ass hurt. The damn tail. Five days of his ass hurting, of a tail growing in. He wasn’t going to be able to balance at all with that thing. While it grew it, he would need to train, get used to it as it came in.

Keith sighed, taking another bite of meat. Once he was full, he’d go take a shower. He felt hot and gross. Stupid temperature spikes.

But the next time he shifted, he felt something between his legs _rip_.

And the smell of iron filled the air.

His eyes went wide as he stood suddenly, his pants suddenly very wet. Damn it. Damn it. He hadn’t thought of that. He knew it was coming, but he hadn’t even thought about _how_ it would come. It hurt, between his legs hurt like hell, but he hadn’t considered the fact that he might _rip his skin open_ just moving carelessly-

Shower. Shower now.

Keith ran for his room and the shower. He’d need to ask Allura if there was anything to get the bloodstains out of his clothes. Probably, but right now, he just- God, he needed to go clean up. He’d figure out how to not bleed over everything once he was clean.

Each step was pain. But he had to make it to his room. He had to-

When he made it, before his door finished closing he was throwing his clothes off and running for the shower. The blood washed off cleanly, but it was still flowing from between his legs. Gritting his teeth, Keith reached between his legs, feeling for the new opening.

It... well, if that was how a vagina felt, he now knew that. Plump folds, slick with blood. It was... he couldn’t really... explain it. He pulled his fingers back, looking at the blood, washing away under the flow of water.

And imagined bleeding like that once a month, and the thought it might mean he could bear children.

Keith closed his eyes, resting his head against the wall.

God.

At least... it seemed like he had always had it, just his body had closed off the opening to his uterus. That actually made him feel better. It had always been a part of him. He just... had to make it open up.

When his lower back throbbed, reminding him of the other thing coming, he shuddered. That, on the other hand... was not a part of him. It wasn’t- he hadn’t always had a tail. And now his genes felt fit to _make_ him have one- Keith swallowed, trying not to feel sick. His genes had decided to make him have a lot of things he didn’t originally have, he decided as he lifted his head, looking at his claws.

The rest of the nails looked like they wanted to come off.

Keith left them.

  


* * *

  


The doctor said it would distract him.

They _understated it._

Keith groaned, face first in his pillow. The stub had started to grow already and his entire lower back was cramping. He couldn’t sit on anything without nudging the stub and causing more pain. It just- fuck.

He thought he would be able to train during this. Oh, how he was wrong.

With another groan, Keith pulled his pillow into his arms, holding it tightly. Five days.

And he’d have to get up at some point, if anything to continue eating.

Fucking hell.


	14. Chapter 14

The worst part wasn’t the actual growth, Keith learned. It was when the tail used the new nerve endings and _moved._ He felt it twitch, and his stomach twisted. It shouldn’t do that. He shouldn’t have a tail. He-

Keith swallowed, pressing his face into the pillow. Damn it. He couldn’t do much right now anyway. Just laying there, pants off and ass facing the air as his tail twitched, was painful enough. Standing up was worse, making his entire lower torso ripple with pain. And what made it worse was he was _starving._ He could almost smell Lance from next door, and he smelled so tempting...

No. He wasn’t going to eat his teammates. He wasn’t going to eat anyone else.

Instead, he was going to put something on that resembled pants and go back down to the kitchen to eat something. Any time now. Aaaaany time.

Keith took a deep breath. He had to get up and go get something. It didn’t matter how. Just get up.

Slowly, he sat up, groaning as he felt his lower back cramp. Damn it. Okay. Now for something approximating pants. He looked around, but... yeah, the only thing he had approximating pants were his blood soaked pants.

Keith sighed. He needed to get those cleaned. But while he was growing the damned tail, he didn’t know if he could get them cleaned. Okay. So. What to do since pants were not going to be able to be used...

There was a knock at his door and Keith growled. He could smell Lance already, and the meat he had to be holding. Damnit. If he got up, he was going to attack Lance. He knew it. But he was starving and if he didn’t get up and get some meat... Damnit.

”Hey, Keith?” Another knock at the door. No, he couldn’t-

”Go away,” he growled.

”Nope. Did you know there’s a puddle of blood where you were sitting?”

Keith’s hands clenched on the bed.

”So I thought you’re going through another growth spurt and need some meat.”

”So you decided to be the meat?” Keith snapped out. “Because I can smell you. You smell delicious.”

Silence. Then- “Uh. No. I brought the meat we have in the kitchen. It’s probably better for you than I am. I mean, I’m skinny. No meat on me.”

”You smell like _fresh_ meat.”

”Oh.” But Lance still didn’t leave. He stood there, and Keith could almost hear him shifting his weight on his feet. “I just want to make sure you’re okay. I mean, Shiro would kick my ass if I didn’t at least try to get along with you. He’d want me to try to get along with you while he’s gone. Not tear the team apart and all that. So I kind of want to make sure you’re okay. And I bet I can take care of you better than you can take care of yourself.”

Keith snorted. “You have to make everything a dare between us?”

”If it gets you out of your room. And I still bet I could. I could make this whole Galra puberty thing go smoothly.”

Keith rolled his eyes.

”Seriously though. Hunk’s worried.”

The two words he didn’t want to hear. “I don’t have pants on,” he warned.

”Uh, why?”

”I’m growing a tail and it’s painful. They’re also soaked in blood.”

There was a loud sigh. “Let me guess. You have no idea how to clean them up.”

”Um-”

”If you don’t let me in, I’m getting Hunk. I’m not letting that sit there like that. I am going to clean up your pants because apparently you don’t know how to clean up some stupid bloodstains. So let me in before I get Hunk to force it open. Or Pidge. Do you want Pidge to hack your door?”

No. No, he did not.

”Fine.” Keith stood slowly, making his way to the door. “Hand me the meat first.”

When he cracked the door open, Lance shoved the plate of meat at him. Keith grabbed it, instantly shoving the meat into his mouth. He didn’t bother looking at Lance as he proceeded to devour all of it. It wasn’t nearly enough, but it helped him enough to look at Lance and not see “food.”

And Lance was steadfastly not looking below the waist. “Okay. So where are your pants?”

Keith pointed.

Quickly, Lance grabbed the pants, going to the bathroom. “I’ll take care of this,” he muttered as he went.

Which left Keith alone. He went back to his bed, laying down. His back hurt so much, and his tail was twitching uncontrollably now. It just... hurt.

At least the space between his legs had stopped hurting.

He turned his head as Lance came out, not holding his pants. “They’re drying,” he told him. “Now, let me see that tail.” His face was full of wonder at the words, as if the idea of Keith having a tail was the best thing in the world.

Keith sighed. “You can see it.”

”It’s kind of... this weird lump. Can I touch it?”

”Please don’t.”

”Okay.” Lance just stared down at him. “You doing okay?”

”It hurts,” Keith snapped. “And it keeps hurting every time it twitches. _And_ I’m supposed to go through this for five days. Which means I have another four days to go.”

”Oh.” Lance shifted his weight. “You want me to get more food?”

Keith looked up at him. He really was taking this whole thing seriously. “You really are trying to take care of me better than I was taking care of myself, aren’t you.”

”Shiro’s not here, so someone has to.”

Keith looked away. The idea of Shiro being here, seeing this... it would have been nice. It would have... helped him a lot, if... if Shiro could take it. “Yeah.”

”Hey. We’ll find Shiro. And he’ll find all your changes cool and interesting. You’ll see.”

”Yeah.” Keith still didn’t look at him.

Lance paused, then slowly sat down on the bed next to him. “You really are taking the idea of Shiro not liking this hard.”

”What if this triggers memories of him being tortured?” Keith asked quietly. “Just looking at me reminds him of his captors?”

”He’ll see past that. I mean... the bond you two have... it’s stronger than anything else on this ship.”

Keith didn’t look at him.

”Yo. Space to Keith.”

Keith looked over at him.

Lance sighed. “Seriously, dude. He’d still love you even if you looked full Galra.”

The words made Keith close his eyes. He’d still love him...

”Yeah,” Keith whispered. “I guess he would.”


	15. Chapter 15

Day three and his tail hadn’t stopped growing. It was reaching his knees now. When was it going to stop? Keith groaned, pressing his face into the pillow. At least it wasn’t a stub anymore. His stomach rippled in hunger, pain, and he knew he’d have to get up, but at least with the tail not being a stub he could sit a little easier.

Not easily, though. It would never be easy to sit with this tail. Keith sighed, getting up. His entire lower back cramped as he did so, and the tail twitched. The feeling of the new appendage swinging across the back of his thighs made him shudder as he pulled on his pants, tucking his tail down one leg. Lance had done a good job, and black hid a lot, but Keith could still see a slight stain. Which sucked.

Or maybe he was just being overly critical. He didn’t know.

He didn’t know a lot of things right now.

Keith started down to the kitchen, that thought still in his mind. It seemed more and more like the dreams he had with Shiro were actually... real. But no one else was dreaming of Shiro. Which kind of told him that it couldn’t be Shiro because wouldn’t he be trying to contact everyone?

Or maybe he was. Maybe that’s why Lance was insistent on helping him. He had dreamt Shiro was looking at him disapprovingly until he did it. Because Lance couldn’t want to help Keith of his own volition. That just wasn’t him.

Or, hell, maybe it was. Keith didn’t know anything anymore.

All he knew was his balance was completely off as he walked down to the kitchen, intent on food. He almost wanted to hunch over. But at the same time, he remembered how Antok had walked, straight and poised, and that made him straighten his back. It made him wobble down the halls, but he wasn’t going to hunch over to accommodate a _tail_. That fucking tail- he wasn’t going to go out of his way to do anything for it.

But God he was hungry.

Keith finally made it to the kitchen, ignoring Hunk and going straight for the meat. He turned away from Hunk as he ate, trying to at least make it a little easier on him.

”Hey, you don’t have to hide it from me,” Hunk told him gently. “Go on, sit down and take your time. I’m just baking some cookies.”

Cookies? Keith sniffed the air. They smelled... really good. A question rose in his mind... would it be safe for him to eat cookies? All that sugar, and he wasn’t sure how it would affect his new Galra self...

”So, are you doing okay?” Hunk asked, his eyes wide. “You’re... eating a lot of meat lately.”

”Yeah. Just...” He sighed, taking another bite of meat as he sat down. “I’m growing a tail. It sucks.”

”Oh. Do you need someone to alter your clothes? I mean, so it’s not awkward or hurt to wear pants with the tail? We can probably take care of that for you.”

Keith looked up at him. He really would-? “You don’t have to.”

Hunk waved his hand, the spoon still in it. “You’re our friend. We’re going to take care of you.”

”Oh.” Keith sighed. “I... I’d rather not. I-”

The tail wasn’t... wasn’t _him._ He could deal with the claws, the purple, the fur... even though that wasn’t originally him, it wasn’t growing out of nothing. The new junk was always a part of him. But the tail... the tail.

”You know if you need anything, just let us know,” Hunk told him, his face serious. “I’ll come to your room with snacks and anything else you want. Just let me know.”

He just nodded, going back to eating his meat.

After a bit, Hunk sighed. “Keith-”

”Paladins!”

Allura. Keith swiftly finished his meat, remembering last time, and started towards the bridge. A mission? What could they have found...?

  


* * *

  


Not a mission.

Keith felt his heart pound in his chest as he saw someone that looked a lot like Pidge fighting on her laptop, taking out a few Galra as he went- And Shiro.

Shiro.

Helping him.

”Is that your brother?” Lance asked, leaning in. “With Shiro?”

Shiro.

”We need to find Matt and Shiro,” Pidge said sharply, looking up. “I have coordinates of their last known location. We need to find them.”

Keith continued to watch the video, watching Shiro fight next to Matt Holt.

And then for him to shove Matt aside, and for the video feed to go dark.

”When was this recorded?” Keith asked quietly.

Pidge checked, frowning. “It was... huh. About the time you started your Galra puberty thing.”

When he started having dreams of Shiro. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. What did that mean? Was Shiro actually unconscious? Was he with Matt, and he was catching moments he was dreaming?

... was he captured by the Galra?

Keith opened his eyes, looking down at Pidge. Her eyes were determined, but... at the same time, he could see the wariness there. She wanted to go, to find her brother, but at the same time... she knew. This could be a trap, the two of them captured and waiting for the rest of Voltron.

”Hey, what’s with the sour looks?” Lance grinned at them. “We have an idea where Shiro and Matt are! I say that’s awesome. We should go find them.”

”It might be a trap,” Keith told him, looking over at him. “The feed went dark, so we never saw them leave.”

”All the more we should find them. If Shiro and Matt are in trouble, we need to go to them. So let’s go! Let’s find them!” Lance grinned at the group.

With a sigh, Allura nodded. “We have no choice,” she told them. “We must find Shiro. If it’s a trap, well... we can walk in aware of it and looking for ways to escape. But we must find him.”

Keith closed his eyes. He really... couldn’t disagree with that. He needed to find Shiro. He just... needed to feel him again, real, in his arms. And see if that kiss was real, and Shiro remembered it too.

And hope, just maybe... Shiro could deal with him looking like a terrible mishmash of both human and Galra.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More fabulous art from Zenthisoror! [Keith having a mid-mission snack.](http://zenthisoror.tumblr.com/post/160223963111/02052017-lance-pov-well-why-let-fresh-meat-go)


	16. Chapter 16

The tail reached his ankles.

And it was finally, finally day five. Which meant it was about time for the tail to stop growing. Keith sighed in relief as he sat up, not feeling his lower back cramp. There was probably something still to come, since he felt ravenous, but his back didn’t cramp. Which, hopefully, meant the _length_ was right.

Keith pulled the tail into his lap, looking at it. Purple as well, and somewhat... fuzzy. He wasn’t sure what it was. It didn’t feel like the rest of the fur on his body. Maybe it was fur, maybe the tail came with fur. He wasn’t sure. What he did know was the tail was sensitive, and just touching it like this made it jump, the sensation rushing back to his brain. It felt... weird.

But he had a tail. Which was the last thing on the list. After this, he’d stop. He’d stop with fur in patches around his body, a spiderweb of purple crossing his face, claws, and a tail.

Everyone got on him about calling himself a monster. Hunk would cut him off, refusing to hear it. But... didn’t they _look_ at him? He didn’t look human, nor did he look Galra. He looked like this horrible mix between the two. So why the hell did everyone look at him and not scream “Monster”?

Shiro would. He hadn’t seen the changes happen. And-

Keith hissed as he realized he was holding his tail tightly. It was awkward, exploring his newly realized feelings. But... they had always been there in some way. They had to, if he was dreaming now of kissing Shiro. And if he was right and they were real, Shiro was dreaming of kissing him too. But he hadn’t seen him like this. He didn’t know-

WIth those thoughts, Keith stood, grabbing his pants. He had still refused to let anyone alter his clothing, so it was either shift his tail awkwardly to lay over the waistband, which hurt after a while, or to shove it down one pant leg. Which messed with his balance. His entire body had shifted to accommodate the tail, and his balance demanded to use it. But...

He stopped, pants half on, and took a deep breath.

The tail wasn’t going away unless he had it surgically removed. And no one was going to do that for him. He had to get used to it.

Slowly, he pulled the tail over the waistband, letting it fall freely down his legs.

With that, he started out to the kitchen, his stomach growling. He needed meat, now. He was _almost done_ growing, and if he just held out for a little longer, just focused on the meat he already had-

”Paladins!”

Keith went cold.

No. Not a mission. He hadn’t eaten. If he went now-

But he was the Red Paladin, and if he didn’t go-

Keith swallowed, his hands trembling in fists next to his side. He had no choice.

And he started down to the bridge.

When he got there, Allura was looking at something with Pidge. Which made him stop, his breath caught. No, it couldn’t be. They couldn’t have found anything on Shiro. This was having to do with Matt Holt. Or maybe Pidge’s father. They couldn’t have found anything. When Hunk and Lance arrived, Allura turned to them, her face stern. It had to be Matt. It couldn’t be Shiro.

”We have found Shiro.”

No.

”He is being held on a Galra battleship nearby.

_No._

”It appears he and Pidge’s brother have been separated for the moment, and we do not have any knowledge where he is. When we rescue Shiro, we will not be looking for Matt Holt. He appears not to be on the ship.”

Keith closed his eyes, taking deep breaths.

Shiro was going to see him. He was going to see him be a monster.

And he was starving. He needed meat.

He looked over at Allura. If she’d let him go a little later than the rest so he could eat-

”Go to your Lions.

No. No, no, no...

Keith didn’t listen to the rest of it, feeling himself panic. He was going to eat another Galra, he knew it. And it might be in front of Shiro. He was going to be a monster again, and he- he-

Slowly, he looked up at Allura as the rest left. He couldn’t do this.

”What’s wrong, Keith?” she asked, brow furrowed.

”I haven’t eaten,” he told her quietly, in case someone was nearby. “And I’m still growing my tail.”

Understanding flicked over her face, followed by determination. “We have no time for you to eat a full meal. You will need to eat a small snack first. That should be enough.”

Keith hoped it would be.

  


* * *

  


So the suit molded to his tail, letting it flick around freely. He knew that the suits and armor shifted to fit their user - Hunk was the obvious example - but he hadn’t expected _that_.

Also Red’s chair shifted to accommodate his tail.

_That_ he didn’t know Red could do.

Whatever. It didn’t matter. He had eaten enough to take the edge off his hunger, but it was still there. But it didn’t matter. He had to go help. He had to go to Shiro.

His hands tightened on Red’s control sticks. Shiro. They were getting Shiro.

”Hunk and I are going to make a scene out here,” Lance told them.

”Pidge and I will board the ship.” Keith took a deep breath. Shiro. They were getting Shiro.

But when they got there...

”Uh. There’s no one out here,” Hunk pointed out.

Keith narrowed his eyes. What was going on? Why wasn’t anyone-

Something exploded on the ship. Ah. Shiro was making a nuisance of himself.

”I’ll go,” Keith told them. “I’ll go help Shiro out and make sure he has an escape route.” With that, he shot off towards the battleship. If Shiro was making a fuss, blowing stuff up, then he needed someone watching his back and could get him out of there. He could hear Lance saying something, but it didn’t matter. He was getting Shiro.

He could hear Galra boots running when he entered the ship. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Lance coming up beside him, his bayard already in his hand. He nodded, pulling out his own. If they were careful, they could find Shiro without being caught.

Problem was, Shiro was probably where they were running. So they had to go that way.

Keith sighed, making his way down the hall. They’d have to fight. They had no choice. “Get ready, Lance.”

”I was born ready.”

And they ambushed the pack of Galra in their way, knocking them out swiftly.

_God_ they smelled good.

”Hey. Keith.”

Keith looked up - when had he knelt?- and caught Lance’s eyes. He looked down, realizing he was pulling the Galra’s helmet off, and a growl was escaping his throat.

Slowly, he stood, swallowing. “We need to find Shiro,” he said quietly.

”I’ll go with you.”

Before he ate any unconscious Galra.

Keith nodded. Then ran towards the biggest commotion, knowing Shiro had to be there. Shiro had to be nearby. He had to-

A dead Galra landed at his feet. When he looked up, he could see Shiro fighting, his hand lit up a brilliant purple, but at his feet was _food_ and he was _hungry_ and he-

The purple hand came for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More fanart! pink_chief has draw a [picture of Keith](http://whalechief.tumblr.com/post/160255096553/roses-of-obsidian-fan-art-whoop-author) and it is wonderful. Thank you so much!


	17. Chapter 17

Before Keith could even think about what it meant, he was dodging. He felt his tail sway behind him as he shifted his grip of his bayard, watching Shiro pull his hand back. Was there... anything left of _Shiro?_ When Keith looked at him, he looked... not like Shiro. Blank. He could see bruising around his temple- had he been tortured? Keith swallowed, looking over him, seeing how painfully Shiro held himself as he regrouped, not looking at Keith.

”Hey,” he called, watching Shiro’s head twitch. “Hey, Shiro. It’s me. Keith.”

Shiro’s head twitched again, towards Keith.

Good. That looked good. “Look, we’re here to get you. Me and Lance. You’re going to be safe, Shiro.”

Instead of answering, Shiro twitched again. Then, he looked up at Keith.

Keith raised his bayard for a block as Shiro’s Galra hand came for him again. Damn it. “Shiro! It’s me!”

”Galra have tails,” came the rough growl. “Keith doesn’t have a tail.”

His heart squeezed at the words. Then... the dreams were just dreams. Or- Shiro hadn’t seen his _tail_ in the dreams. He hadn’t had one since growing one.

Recklessly, he reached up, throwing his helmet to the side. “Didn’t you dream of me like this?” Keith pleaded, hoping he was right. “Fur, purple skin, all this? I just grew a tail too. I’m _Keith_ , Shiro.”

Slowly, Shiro stepped back, studying him. Then, his eyes widened in recognition, then shut in pain. “Get out of here,” he whispered.

”No way,” Keith insisted. “I’m not going anywhere without you.”

Quickly, Shiro grabbed the helmet, throwing it at Keith. Just as he reflexively caught it, Shiro rushed forward and seized his arm, tossing him aside. With a pained yelp, Keith hit the wall, feeling his tail crush between him and the wall.

And Shiro shut the door between them, his eyes wide and wild.

”No!” Keith stumbled to his feet. He could use Galra tech. He was Galra enough to look like this. With that thought, he jammed his helmet back on and went to the door. “Open, open, open,” he muttered, hand going to the nearby panel.

The door opened, showing Shiro turning a corner, leaving.

He heard something behind him- “Where were you?” Keith snapped at Lance, lowering his bayard.

”Looking for Shiro. You ran off, leaving me behind. So I had to guess where you were. What about you? What were you doing?” Lance frowned, looking like he wanted to cross his arms if it wasn’t for the bayard in his hands.

”Finding Shiro,” he shot back. “And-” He looked where Shiro had gone. “We need to go after him. Now.”

”Of course you’d find Shiro,” Lance muttered as they started to run, Keith leading the way.

And of course, as they ran they’d only see the briefest glimpses of Shiro, running down a hall to turn a corner, or the hint of him in the next hall, the glow of his Galra hand painting the wall. Keith grit his teeth. What was Shiro doing? This was reckless even for Keith. Why was he doing this? Where was he going? What could be so important that-

Then, he stopped, eyes widening. He knew where Shiro was going now.

”We need to get to the main control room. Shiro’s going to blow the ship up!”

”What?!” Lance yelped. “With us - and him! - inside it?”

How had he not seen it earlier. He should have known Shiro was going to do something dumb. Shiro wouldn’t have done something like this unless he had a stupid plan. And if he had that idea, he must have thought he could escape- was this why he was caught? Caught blowing something up, and now he couldn’t escape? So he was just going to take the enemy with him?

Keith growled. He wasn’t going to let that happen.

When they got to the control room, Shiro was there, poking at the screen. He turned at the sound of them, hand up, before sighing when he realized who it was. “Get out of here,” he told them, turning back to the screen.

”Not without you,” Keith told him quietly. “Come on. It’s the four of us here. We can blow this ship up, no problem. You-”

Shiro laughed bleakly. “I can’t go,” he told them. “I-”

Lance took a step forward, then looked away as Keith shook his head. “We need you,” Keith told him. “I... _I_ need you. Please... come with us. We miss you.”

”Keith, of the things I’ve done, I can’t-” He shook his head. “It ends with me,” he told them, his voice grave.

”We don’t care what you’ve done!” Keith yelled at him. “Do you think we’ll call you a monster or something? I _literally_ look like a monster, and have done some deplorable shit, and everyone’s refusing to even let me say the word. We’re not going to care! The only thing we’ll care about is not having you around!”

Shiro looked over him, and he could see Shiro going through his memories, his dreams. At least, Keith hoped that’s what he was doing. It looked like the dreams were real, if his earlier reaction was anything to go by, and if they were he would know what Keith looked like...

”Keith...” Shiro’s voice was strained, pleading.

”I swear to God, Shiro, if the next words out of your mouth aren’t ‘okay, let’s go,’ I am going to knock you out and take you with me,” Keith warned.

That made Shiro laugh. “I can’t,” he told them. “I-”

”Okay, Lance, hold him down. I’m knocking him out.”

Shiro’s eyes went wide.

”I told you I’d do it,” Keith told him. “I’m taking you with me, one way or another.”

”Keith-”

”I’ve literally eaten a Galra and almost ate Lance,” he told him, voice heating up in anger.

”And he has,” Lance chimed in.

”And Lance refuses to call me a monster. Hunk refuses to even let me say the word. Is what you did worse than me basically being a cannibal?”

Shiro’s eyes were wide. “Why would you eat-”

”Apparently becoming this” Keith motioned to himself “takes a lot of energy and requires me to eat nothing but meat for... about a month or so. It was fresh meat and I hadn’t eaten recently. So, what about you? Done anything as bad?”

Shiro shook his head. “No, but-”

”Then come with us.” Keith held out his free hand.

”I let some of my comrades die so Matt could go free!” Shiro snapped at them. “I sacrificed them so Matt and I can stay alive. Do you really want someone like that on board?”

”If I know anything about the people that like you, they thought they were doing the right thing so you and Matt could be alive.” Keith just continued to hold out his hand. “Please, Shiro.”

That made Shiro close his eyes, pain filling his face.

Then, slowly, took Keith’s hand.

”Come on,” Keith told him, squeezing his hand. “Let’s get out of here.”


	18. Chapter 18

Keith hadn’t let go of Shiro until they reached Red. It was... he had to make sure Shiro came with him. He wasn’t losing him again. Keith looked back at Shiro, seeing his eyes unfocus a bit- damn. They needed to get him to a healing pod.

”Cover us,” he told Lance as he and Shiro entered Red. “I need to get Shiro back to the Castle as soon as possible.”

”Roger.” Lance’s voice held no mirth now, their sharpshooter now in the zone. Keith knew Lance would do everything perfectly, if not to cover them then to one up Keith in making sure everything went well.

Which left with with the task of getting Shiro back to the Castle. Not an easy one, he thought grimly as they flew out, meeting the fleet of fighters that had been missing on their way in. “Pidge, Hunk, I got Shiro. We’re heading back to the Castle now.”

”About fucking time,” Pidge muttered.

Keith nodded as he flew Red through the fighters, rolling through the shots and returning fire. Shiro braced behind him as they flew, silent. He could hear Lance occasionally calling out in victory as he shot down another fighter, and the dig at Keith as he did so, but Keith paid it no mind. One thing. That’s all he had to do. Get Shiro back to the Castle.

”You said you ate a dead Galra,” Shiro murmured behind him. “Was that-”

”I regret it,” Keith snapped back, dodging. “If I knew then what I do now, I would have finished my meal before going out, instead of being a mo-”

”No “M” word!” Hunk and Lance said together of the com link.

Keith sighed. “They’re yelling at me for the “M” word,” he explained to Shiro. “Even though it fits.”

He couldn’t feel it, but he knew Shiro had placed a hand on his shoulder. It was almost... he could feel it even if he couldn’t feel it. “They have the right idea,” he told him kindly. “You’re not a monster. You regret what you did, and are trying not to do it again.”

Keith’s hands tightened on the control sticks. “Shiro-”

”Every dream I had of you looked different each time. I thought my mind was playing tricks on me when I saw the claws, fur, and purple skin... but I knew if it was real, it wouldn’t matter to me. You would still be you, Keith. And I-” Here, Shiro paused. “Would rather finish that when the others can’t overhear me.”

”Oh come on!” Pidge shouted. “Just say you want to bone him and get it over with.”

Aaaand there was the blush. Keith swallowed. “Thank you for your contribution, Pidge,” he said, trying to sound angry and certain he wasn’t going past ‘embarrassed.’

”You’re welcome. And say the ‘I love you’s once we’re done fighting!”

Keith coughed. “Pidge...” he started, trying to explain it to the helmetless Shiro, then shook his head. “Pidge is being Pidge.”

”Ah.” Shiro’s hand slowly let him go as they reached the Castle. “She’s pretty good at being Pidge.”

That made Keith smile a little as they landed. “Okay, come on, we need to get you to the med bay-” he started, turning to Shiro.

Shiro shook his head. “I’m going out there in Black.”

”What?!” Keith’s mouth fell open. “You need to get-”

”You need Voltron, right? The only way that will happen is if I go out there in Black. And it shouldn’t be that bad.” Shiro smiled at him. “The Lions have an intercom system. I can still hear you without a helmet.”

”But...” Keith took a deep breath. He wouldn’t get anywhere arguing with Shiro. “Okay. But as soon as you get back, you’re going into the pod.”

Shiro smiled a little, nodding.

Then, reached out to lift Keith’s helmet, and kissed him.

”Let’s get this over with,” he whispered against Keith’s lips.

”Y-yeah,” Keith stuttered out as Shiro replaced the helmet and left Red. Then he shook his head, trying to focus again. They’d be able to do that more after this was done and Shiro was healed up. Kick Galra ass now, make out with Shiro later.

With that thought, he went out to rejoin the fight, Shiro behind him.

  


* * *

  


Keith rested against the wall, waiting for Shiro to wake up from the cryopod. The battle had been won easily once Voltron came into play. Of course, the Galra force on the ship had already been weakened considering Shiro had killed quite a few of them on his way to blow it up. But still... it felt nice to win a battle with Shiro again.

When the pod opened, letting Shiro out, Keith pushed himself off the wall, rushing over to steady Shiro. “Hey,” he said quietly, holding him up.

”Hey,” Shiro whispered back. He turned and looked at him, smiling. “You wear fur well.”

Keith started to laugh, pressing his head against Shiro’s bowed one. “You dork.”

Shiro laughed back at him, leaning in to kiss him. It was...

God, it was everything he ever wanted. Shiro was back, he was okay, and he was kissing him like his life depended on it. Everything about this was what he ever wanted. He felt Shiro’s arm come around his torso as he pulled Keith closer, deepening the kiss.

Then, slowly, they broke apart, smiling at each other. “Someone’s going to walk in soon,” Keith told him, whispering.

”I’m surprised they haven’t already,” Shiro raised an eyebrow at that. “Unless they’re at the door, waiting for us to be done so they can come in to talk.”

”You say that like any of them have tact.” But... Keith looked over at the door. He didn’t see any of them...

Shiro’s kiss to his jaw made him turn back to him. “Let them look,” he told Keith quietly.

And then he kissed him again, and no, _this_ was everything he ever wanted.

Keith had a feeling every kiss would feel like that from now on.


	19. Chapter 19

”It’s like hair,” Shiro reported, and Keith shivered as he continued to pet his tail. “I’m not sure what the rest of it is, but the tuft here at the end feels like your own hair.”

Keith looked behind him, lifting himself off the bed slightly to see the black tuft at the end of his tail. It wasn’t fur, apparently, but... it still looked wrong to see. Not like himself. But Shiro continued to pet his tail, and Keith sighed, closing his eyes. “That should be the last of it,” he mumbled into the pillow. “I shouldn’t be becoming any more Galra than this.”

Shiro stroked a hand down Keith’s back, trailing his fingers across his tail when he reached the end. “It looks good on you.”

Snorting, Keith rolled onto his side and looked up at him. “You’ve said that about every change.”

”It’s true.” His fingers reached up to comb through the fur on Keith’s neck. “You look good, Keith.”

”Mm.” Keith’s eyes fell halfway closed at the touch. “You’re biased.”

That made Shiro laugh a little. “Doesn’t make it less true.”

Keith smiled a little, opening his eyes to look up at Shiro. It felt good to hear Shiro say those words, and not have any sort of adverse reaction to him looking like an unholy mix of human and Galra. It was just... nice. “I’m surprised you like it so much.”

Shiro leaned down, kissing him. “I got used to it during my dreams. I’d see you with something new and I just wanted to see you so much that I rolled with it. You were always Keith in my dreams, and never anything like a Galra.”

”About those dreams...” Keith sat up, flicking his tail out of Shiro’s grasp so he could sit properly. “How’d they happen? I mean... how did we start dreaming of each other like that and no one else did?”

”I’m pretty certain Lance did once, since I did scold him for not getting along with you when you need it,” Shiro said thoughtfully. “But... I think it has something to do with Voltron and how badly I wanted to see you again when I was captured. I knew you’d come for me, and I kept that thought in mind when I slept. I guess when I saw Lance he was wanting to see me for some reason.” Shiro ran a hand through Keith’s hair. “But you were the one I saw the most.”

”I wanted you to be here,” Keith admitted. “Especially when I started to change. But I was-” He shook his head. “Afraid, I guess is the word. I was afraid you’d only see Galra when you looked at me and you wouldn’t be able to handle it.”

Shiro shook his head. “I’d always be here for you, Keith.” He smiled a little at him, almost shy. “I... you know.”

”Yeah, I do.” Keith shifted so he could lean in, kissing him. “I do too.”

With a sudden movement, Shiro grabbed him and fell onto the bed, grinning. Keith started to laugh when Shiro leaned in, kissing him. His human hand stroked down Keith’s back, squeezing his ass through his pants, and Keith’s breath hitched.

”Wait, wait,” Keith said breathlessly. “We can’t- I mean, I’m-” Shiro looked at him curiously, tilting his head as Keith sat up. “I mean, I- I’m-” Why was this so hard?

”It’s okay,” Shiro told him, sitting up as well. “We don’t have to have sex.”

”No, it’s just... I want to, but, well... I’m kind of like a Galra down there too where I’m intersex and I might be able to get pregnant,” Keith said, his words speeding up near the end.

”Oh.” Shiro blinked. “And you don’t want that.”

Keith shook his head. “We’re fighting a war. This is the worst time to have a kid. Not to mention I’m just a teenager myself. I mean, we can think about this again when we’re not in this war against the Galra but right now, I-”

Shiro shook his head. “I understand. It’s probably best for me anyway that I don’t have sex until later. With everything that’s happened, I’m still not completely sure I wouldn’t hurt you at some point. Not because of how you look, but because I still don’t remember everything that happened to me and I’m not interested in having a memory come back to me while I’m riding you.”

Oh. Keith blushed a brilliant red at that. He had a feeling Shiro wanting to bottom was also his way of saying he didn’t want children right now either. Or he really did like bottoming. Keith opened his mouth to ask, then closed it again. It didn’t matter. They both didn’t want to have sex for their own reasons. But maybe...

Keith placed a hand on his stomach. Shiro watched him, then covered his hand with his own, looking at him.

Maybe soon, they both would have their own reasons for wanting to have sex.

Keith smiled, reaching out for Shiro again.

And Shiro leaned in, kissing him as Keith’s arms went around him.

This was perfect on its own, anyway.

”Keith... are you _purring_?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys. _Guys._ Y'all are awesome. I got a response from this fic I have never gotten for previous ones. Thank you all so much!
> 
> This does mean this is the end of the story. But never fear: if you read the Shattered series, you will be pleased to know the first chapter of next one in the series should be out soon! It may be Monday, since Sundays are usually my "spend time with family" days. But it will be out!
> 
> And again. Thank you all so much. I never expected this response and I am honored I've gotten it. Thank you.
> 
> Also, all the love to infiniterhapsody! She's been awesome with helping me and none of my fics would be nearly as good as they are without her.
> 
> And now for some love for Zenthisoror for fully transformed Keith in armor! http://zenthisoror.tumblr.com/post/160917036111/2152017-the-m-word-which-isnt-mullet-may-be


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